Product design question
Cancellation rate on Uber is currently at 25%. What would you do to bring this down to 5%?
- Uber
- Product design
- Hard
Practice this question out loud. An AI interviewer asks it, follows up like a real interviewer would, and scores your answer. Type or speak.
Start a mock interview on this question · Mock interview from a job description
What this question tests
Root cause diagnosis and prioritization under a specific numeric target: can you break down cancellation causes and propose fixes that plausibly reach 5 percent.
How to approach it
- Segment cancellations by who cancels and when, rider before pickup, rider after driver assigned, or driver cancelling on rider.
- Hypothesize causes: long wait times, surge pricing sticker shock, driver no shows, and riders price comparing across apps while waiting.
- Prioritize by volume, assume driver cancellations and long ETA related rider cancellations are the largest share.
- Propose fixes matched to each cause: better driver matching to cut ETA, cancellation penalties for repeat driver cancellations, and price lock once a ride is confirmed.
- Sequence the rollout, fixing the largest driver side cause first since it compounds into rider side cancellations.
- Define success as cancellation rate trending from 25 percent toward 5 percent over a stated period, with weekly tracking.
What a strong answer includes
- Splits cancellations by rider versus driver initiated, since the fixes are completely different.
- Picks the highest volume cause to attack first instead of listing all fixes with equal weight.
- States a plausible path to 5 percent rather than promising an exact number with no reasoning.
Common mistakes
- Treating all cancellations as one problem with one fix.
- Proposing only rider side fixes while ignoring driver cancellations, often a major share.
Likely follow-up questions
- What would you do if most cancellations happen in low driver density areas?
- How would you avoid penalizing drivers unfairly for legitimate cancellations?
More product design questions
- How would you improve the Uber app?Lyft · Product design · Easy
- How would you design at ETA system for Lyft drivers?Lyft · Product design · Medium
- Design Lyft for kids.Google · Product design · Hard
- Design a loyalty program for a search engine that's competing with Google & Bing.Google · Product design · Hard
- How would you improve the restaurant search?Uber · Product design · Easy
- How would you design a bicycle renting app for tourists?Google · Product design · Medium
More questions from Uber
Learn the skill behind it
Chapters of the AI PM course that teach what this question tests.
- Chapter 4: Discovery and strategy for AI products
- Chapter 7: AI UX and human oversight: design for a system that is wrong sometimes
- Chapter 14: Get the job: the AI PM interview loop